Arrested Cayuga County department head, employee due in court

;A Cayuga County department head and one of his employees, both of whom were arrested last month, are to be arraigned Tuesday in Auburn city court on criminal misconduct-related charges.

Real Property Tax Services Director Alan P. Kozlowski and Tammy M. Schramm, a supervising tax clerk in his department, were each charged with two misdemeanor counts of receiving unlawful gratuities.

Both county employees face up to a year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine. They were each charged in a scheme that enabled Schramm to illegally receive a small amount of money while she was working, county sheriff’s investigators said.

At the time of their arrests, authorities said Kozlowski, 62, of 4917 West Lake Road, Auburn, did not take any cash but facilitated an arrangement for an unnamed assessor to pay Schramm for doing personal work for him at the Real Property Tax Services office.

Both Kozlowski and Schramm, 36, of 2745 E. Brutus St., Weedsport, were suspended with pay pending the outcome of their criminal cases, county Legislature Chairman Peter Tortorici said Monday.

Kozlowski, who started in his position on Oct. 1, 1998, makes $59,956 a year, according to county personnel records. Schramm, a county employee since November 2002, is paid $39,804 yearly.

The investigation began in June after county officials learned that an unnamed town assessor — who was not charged — paid Schramm on April 8 and April 27 to enter his assessment information into the county’s computerized property records, authorities said.

County lawmakers plan to meet behind closed doors in executive session on Tuesday to get an update on the cases against the two employees, Tortorici said.